The Winx depicts a giant, sentient sea creature living out of water. NPR’s Alyssa Nadworny talks with Tessa Yang about her debut novel, “The Jelly Fish Problem.”
Alyssa Nadworny, host:
A new novel mixes marine biology with magic about a giant, glowing monster of jellyfish on an island in Maine. If this sounds like a bizarre combination, imagine how the inhabitants of the fictional island of Shattering Point feel. The monster jellyfish are ending their summer tourist season, and they quickly begin attacking each other. Their only hope is a prickly scientist, Josephine Ness, or Jo, who is heartbroken in many ways when the book begins. I’m joined by Tessa Yang, who wrote the novel “The Jellyfish Problem.” Hello, Tessa.
Tessa Yang: Hi, Alyssa. Thanks so much for being with me.
NADWORNY: Let’s talk about the main character, Joe. You know, she gets this call from an old friend, maybe an old crush, about something she can help with. I mean, what’s the call about? Set it up for us.
Yang: Joe is a very introverted, know-it-all idiot who, unsurprisingly, has great difficulty making and keeping friends. So the friends he has are really important to him. And then – yes – suddenly, she gets a call from her college crush, Nadia, who tells Jo that Nadia now lives on this remote island off the coast of Maine, where they’re having a jellyfish problem, and will Jo be able to help? Jo dropped everything to go, partly because she was, you know, a little intrigued by the idea that there might be something scientifically discovered for her about this big jellyfish. But she’s mostly going because she wants to reconnect with Nadia.
Nadworny: What do we need to know about jellyfish? What attracted you to this creature?
Yang: You know, I didn’t set out to write a book about a giant jellyfish.
NADWORNY: (Laughter).
Yang: I planned to write a book about a sea monster, but I knew I wanted the monster to be based on a real-life animal. But what I like about jellyfish is that they resist all attempts to see themselves in them. You look at a jellyfish and ask yourself, where is its mouth? Where are its eyes? And I think that makes something a very good candidate for a monster, because what is a monster? It is something that we cannot connect with and cannot see ourselves in.
NADWORNY: Joe, she’s very similar to the jellyfish that she studies and loves so deeply in the sense that she’s not the easiest character to love. Are there parallels to Clementine – you know, the giant glowing, mysterious jellyfish – are there parallels to Clementine’s story, her fate, and Joe’s story?
Yang: I think Clementine is very misunderstood. And I think Jo is someone who has been misunderstood her whole life. So I think Joe and, you know, hopefully Clementine will move forward in that direction of being understood. And throughout the book, Joe is kind of forced to grow, especially after the loss of his best friend, Aldo.
NADWORNY: Yes. Let’s talk about that. ‘Cause she’s going through a hard time. I mean, his best friend and research partner, Aldo, recently drowned, and Joe believes it was his fault.
Yang: Despite not being physically present in the story, Aldo actually plays an important role in the story as he dies before the story begins. He is constantly on Joe’s mind. She often wonders, what would Aldo do in this scenario, especially when she gets to the island and is faced with things that don’t make sense. Because Aldo was a scientist like Joe, but he was open-minded in a way that she was not. So she finds herself trying to access his personality and think about what his approach to the jellyfish problem might be.
NADWORNY: Yes. There is an excerpt in the book. It’s at the top of page 189, and I wonder if you could read it for us.
Yang: (reading) Was the giant jellyfish of Shattering Point an ancient and unstoppable monster that had been roaming these shores for decades, having already taken one human life and now poised to take the lives of 47 more? Or was she just an animal like many others struggling to adapt to the rough seas? Its pulsating light is less a signal of danger than a call for help.
Nadworny: What’s Joe thinking over there?
Yang: What she’s trying to figure out is to what extent Clementine matches her understanding of the jellyfish and to what extent it fundamentally departs from it. Jo knows everything, and she really identifies with a lot of this being this scientist and jellyfish expert. And then he’s finding some evidence – real evidence – that this is a jellyfish that’s breaking all the rules.
Nadworny: Tessa, would you recommend this book to read when you’re at the beach?
Yang: (Laughter) Well, now that it’s appeared on some beach reading lists for the summer, I guess I’d have to say, yes. Yes. I think you should read it completely…
NADWORNY: (Laughter).
Yang: …on the beach. Why not? I don’t know if you should read this and go scuba diving, but…
NADWORNY: (Laughter).
Yang: If you want to read it and then splash in the shallow water, of course. If you get in the water soon after reading this, you’ll probably want to keep an eye out for jellyfish.
NADWORNY: (Laughter) I love it. Tessa Yang’s debut novel is called “The Jellyfish Problem.” Thanks so much for being with us, Tessa.
Yang: Thanks for having me. This is a fun conversation.
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